China’s world’s largest open-sea offshore solar farm to power 2,3 million people is now fully operational near Dongying, showing how solar power is moving beyond land and into the ocean.

 

A massive milestone in clean energy has just taken shape off China’s coast. The world’s largest open-sea offshore solar farm is now fully operational near Dongying, showing how solar power is moving beyond land and into the ocean.

The project sits around eight kilometers offshore in shallow coastal waters and covers an area of about 1,223 hectares. With a total capacity of 1 gigawatt, it’s the first fixed-pile offshore solar installation in the world to reach this scale. Thousands of steel-supported platforms are anchored firmly to the seabed, designed to handle waves, tides, strong winds, and even winter sea ice.

What makes this offshore setup especially effective is its environment. Cooler air above the sea helps panels operate more efficiently, while sunlight reflected from the water boosts output. As a result, the farm generates five to fifteen percent more electricity than similar solar plants on land. In total, over 2.3 million high-power bifacial panels work together to turn sunlight into usable energy.

Electricity produced offshore travels through a high-voltage subsea cable to shore, where it’s stepped up and sent into the grid. The project also includes a large battery storage system, allowing energy to be stored and released smoothly, improving reliability when sunlight levels change.

Once running at full scale, the solar farm is expected to produce around 1.78 terawatt-hours of electricity every year. That’s enough to power roughly 2.6 million urban residents, while cutting carbon emissions by more than a million tons annually.

Beyond clean power, the project also blends solar generation with marine fish farming, making smarter use of coastal space. It’s a clear sign that the future of renewable energy may increasingly be built at sea.

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